May 16 (UPI) -- A rescue diver has died after an attempt to recover the bodies of four of the five Italians killed on a scuba diving trip in the Maldives.

May 16 (UPI) -- A rescue diver has died after an attempt to recover the bodies of four of the five Italians killed on a scuba diving trip in the Maldives.

May 16 (UPI) -- A rescue diver has died after an attempt to recover the bodies of four of the five Italians killed on a scuba diving trip in the Maldives.

Staff Sgt Mohamed Mahdhee died while diving in the search-and-rescue operation, the Maldives government tells the BBC.

“We are deeply saddened by this tragedy, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families,” Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu said as rescuers searched for four missing Italian divers near a deep underwater cave.

Six people are thought to have died in the incident off the Maldives.

A rescue diver in the Maldives searching for the bodies of four Italians, who drowned in the deadliest diving disaster in the Indian Ocean tourist destination, has also died, authorities said.